Page 3 - Chatterbox
The differing fates of the 75-plus club
Najma Heptulla, who was made to resign as minister for minority affairs ostensibly because she had turned 75, has taken oath as governor of Manipur. Observers say this is just an interim office till she is named the National Democratic Alliance candidate for vice-president of India. But what of the other 75-plus minister to resign, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel? She is still waiting for something, anything. It is a moot question whether Heptulla resigned so that a case could be made for wresting Patel's command of Gujarat - or because she had turned 75. After all, Kalraj Mishra, also over 75, is beavering away quietly in the micro small and medium enterprises ministry. Strange are the ways of the current ruling dispensation.
Rodent menace at Charbagh railway station
The Charbagh Railways Station in Lucknow is famous for its historic building. But it has shot to fame for another reason
Ramdev's airport guest
Sadhu-turned entrepreneur, Baba Ramdev was at an airport lounge waiting for a flight when he got a message
How a phone call disrupted disruptive MP for a day
SS Ahluwalia, a four-term Rajya Sabha member and current Lok Sabha MP from Darjeeling, is known for his near-encyclopaedic knowledge of parliamentary procedures
Loyal Congress chief minister-in-waiting
Sheila Dikshit is nearly 80. Is she the right person to become chief minister of Uttar Pradesh? Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said at a rally in Lucknow: "People of Delhi ask: what did we do wrong? When Sheilaji was in place, it looked as if the government was functioning. Now all you see is drama and MLAs going to jail."Guess what he said next? "As chief minister Sheilaji transformed Delhi. She represents the thinking of the Congress. Her heart is with the Congress. That is why she has been sent here." Is that why when she won Delhi for the second time in a row Dikshit was kept waiting for over 10 days before the party high command named her CM?
Heptulla's dilemma
It has been speculated for months that Heptulla will be given a gubernatorial assignment and her junior minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will get the full-fledged charge of the ministry
The resignation that wasn't
Gurudas Kamath, a Congress Lok Sabha member from Maharashtra, was ready to quit the party until colleagues convinced him to take back his resignation
How times change
A top Bharatiya Janata Party Union minister from Uttar Pradesh wanted a Rajya Sabha seat for one of his lieutenants, who is a party spokesperson
Rebellion in Tamil Nadu BJP over tickets
A rebellion seems to have broken out in the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP, led mostly by those who failed to get tickets in the ongoing Assembly polls
Bhola Singh has faith in "Dharmendra" and "Pradhan"
Last week, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member from Begusarai, Bhola Singh, known for his unconventional views on a number of issues
